Online test polling

ABSTRACT

An aspect of the present invention relates to an online test platform adapted to facilitate the development, delivery, and management of educational tests with interactive participation by students, teachers, proctors, and administrators even when some or all of them are remotely located. The platform may include administrator interfaces, test proctor interfaces, and test taker (e.g. student) interfaces to allow each participant to view, navigate, and interact with aspects of the online test platform that are intended to meet their needs.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of the following provisionalapplications, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety:

U.S. Provisional App. No. 60/825,246 filed on Sep. 11, 2006; and

U.S. Provisional App. No. 60/941,984 filed on Jun. 5, 2007.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

This invention generally relates to computerized testing using anetworked platform, such as the Internet, and it more specificallyrelates to polling in online testing.

2. Description of Related Art

Computerized testing has advantages over written testing such asefficiency and reduction in paperwork. However, computerized testingsystems can be improved to provide a substantially better testingenvironment for the student with greater control and interactivity bythose administering tests.

A need exists for improved computerized testing and testingadministration methods and systems.

SUMMARY

Provided herein are methods and systems for an online test platform.

In an aspect of the invention, methods and systems include providing anetworked computing facility and an interface, such as a web browser,executing on the computing facility for participating in a test sessionof an online test platform, and restricting use of the computingfacility to participating in the online test platform during the testsession.

In the methods and systems, the web browser may be secure. A userparticipating in the online test session may be an administrator of thecomputer. In the methods and systems, a proctor of the online testplatform may lift the restriction, and a user of the computer mayrequest to stop participating in the online test session. The requestmay be a signal from the computer to a proctor of the online testplatform.

In another aspect of the invention, methods and systems may includeproviding a server connected through the internet with a client computerto deliver an online test, displaying a test screen of the online teston the client computer, receiving, at the client computer, test screenupdate information from the server, and assembling a next test screenwhile displaying a current test screen.

In the methods and systems, receiving data may overlap with displayingdata. The methods and systems may further include displaying the nexttest screen immediately after a user has completed the current testscreen. Assembling may occur after a user has completed the current testscreen. Displaying the next test screen may immediately occur afterassembling the next test screen.

In another aspect of the invention, methods and systems may includeproviding a server connected through the internet with a plurality ofclient computers to deliver an online test, providing an adjustablepolling period, setting the polling period based on an aspect of theonline test, polling at least one of the plurality of client computersby the server at least once per polling period, and maintaining on theserver a record of the client computer status associated with thedelivery of the online test.

In the methods and systems, setting may include sending the pollingperiod to the client. The record may include the polling period, thepolling period may be set by the server.

In the methods and systems, an aspect of the online test may include anumber of client computers connected to the server or the number ofclient computers participating in the online test delivery. The recordmay include test results provided by the client computer.

In another aspect of the invention, methods and systems may includeproviding a test center with a plurality of computers, providing aplurality of test takers, each using a computer in the test center,communicating test information over the internet between a server and aweb browser of each computer being used by a test taker, andindependently testing each test taker in the test center over theinternet.

The methods and systems may include providing a proctor of the testusing a computer in the test center. The proctor may communicate overthe internet to test takers through the server. The proctor may view thestatus of at least some of the test takers visually or over theinternet. The proctor may be remotely located.

In another aspect of the invention, methods and systems may includeproviding a summary screen of answers to an online test session,selecting an answer on the summary screen, displaying a review screen ofthe selected answer, updating the selected answer on the review screen,and displaying the summary screen of test answers with the updatedselected answer. In the methods and systems the updated selected answermay be the answer chosen during the test session.

In another aspect of the invention, methods and systems may includeproviding a networked computer, providing a web browser executing on thecomputer, assembling test screen animations in real-time based on testinformation provided by a server connected to the computer over theinternet, and displaying the test screen animations to deliver an onlinetest. In an embodiment, the test screen animation may be assembled inreal time the first time that day that the test may be requested. Afterthat, if the test has not changed, the students who request that sametest may be able to load a cached, compiled version of the test screenanimation. Determining if a test may have changed may involve running acheck against the version that was compiled and an updated flag in thedatabase.

In embodiments, a proctoring interface may be associated with an onlinetest platform. In embodiments, a proctoring interface may be providedthat includes welcome and proctoring screens. A proctor or plurality ofproctors may be able to select a current time frame of tests on awelcome screen of the proctoring interface.

In embodiments, a proctor or plurality of proctors may be able to open atest session of one of a plurality of tests displayed in a test displayarea of the proctor welcome screen

In embodiments, a proctor or plurality of proctors may be able to startan open test session by selecting a start session control of theproctoring user interface.

In embodiments, a proctoring screen may be displayed that is associatedwith a started test. The proctoring screen may include a header and aplurality of test status panels. A start test status panel may display aplurality of selectable individual controls for a plurality of testtakers;

In embodiments, a proctor or plurality of proctors may activate one ormore of a plurality of test takers to begin testing by selecting anactivation control for each of the plurality of test takersindividually, or by selecting a general start control displayed in theheader to activate all online test takers that are displayed in thestart test status panel.

In embodiments, a proctor or plurality of proctors may displayindividual controls for test takers by opening a testing status panel.

In embodiments, the proctoring interface may provide a plurality oforganizational controls for organizing the content within the proctoringinterface, such as the physical location of test takers in a testenvironment, grouping test takers within the interface based at least inpart on testing status (e.g., “active,” “complete”), grouping testtakers within the interface based at least in part on each test taker'stest or subject matter (e.g., “History Chapter 2 Test,” “EnglishComposition Test,” etc.), grouping test takers within the interfacebased at least in part on test takers' needs and/or special needs,grouping test takers within the interface based at least in part on alevel of proctoring assistance needed, or some other organizationalframework.

In embodiments, a proctor or plurality of proctors may monitor thedisplayed individual test taker controls of the testing status panel toprovide assistance to one or more test takers based at least in part onthe one or more test takers requesting assistance. In embodiments, aproctor or plurality of proctors may finalize a test session by openinga finish test status panel to display individual completed test takercontrols. A proctor may accept a test taker's answers individually byselecting each completed test taker control finalize button, or byselecting a finalize session control in the proctoring header, whereinfinalizing may accept test takers' answers and prepare the answers forscoring. In an embodiment, selecting a finalize session control buttonmay only finalize test taker's sessions that have been completed. In analternate embodiment, if an individual test needs to be finalized, theproctor may click on the student icon from the proctor monitoring screenand select “Finalize” for that student.

In an aspect of the invention, a method of proctoring an online test maycomprise providing a proctoring user interface that includes welcome andproctoring screens; selecting a current time frame of tests on thewelcome screen; opening a test session of one of a plurality of testsdisplayed in a test display area of the proctor welcome screen; startingthe open test session by selecting a start session control of theproctoring user interface; displaying a proctoring screen associatedwith the started test wherein the proctoring screen includes a headerand a plurality of test status panels wherein a start test status panelis open displaying selectable individual controls for a plurality ofstudents; activating one or more of the plurality of students to begintesting by selecting an activation control for each of the plurality ofstudents individually or by selecting a general start control displayedin the header to activate all online students displayed in the starttest status panel; displaying individual controls for students testingby opening a testing status panel; providing a plurality oforganizational controls for organizing the content within the proctoringinterface; monitoring the displayed individual testing student controlsof the testing status panel to provide assistance to one or more testingstudents based at least in part on the one or more testing studentsrequesting assistance; and finalizing the test session by opening afinish test status panel to display individual completed studentcontrols and accepting student answers individually by selecting eachcompleted student control finalize button or by selecting a finalizesession control in the proctoring header, wherein finalizing acceptsstudents answers and prepares the answers for scoring. In an embodiment,each of the steps of proctoring an online test is carried out online. Inan embodiment, each of the steps of proctoring an online test is carriedout on a combination of online and a locally installed server.

In an aspect of the invention, a method of polling includes logging atest taker into an online testing platform, using a web browser inassociation with a computing facility, and prior to beginning an onlinetest with the test taker polling the web browser to obtain data relatingto the computing facility. In the method, the data relating to thecomputing facility relates to functionality of the computing facilitywhich is related to image resolution, audio capability, or videocapability. In the method, the data relating to the computing facilitycharacterizes polling response time of the computing facility. In themethod, polling includes synchronous polling or asynchronous polling.The synchronous polling is based on a polling period so that the webbrowser is polled at least once per polling period. The polling periodis predetermined, variable, or based on an aspect of the test taker.

In another aspect of the invention, the method further includes aplurality of web browser associated computing facilities, and pollingeach of the plurality of web browsers. In the method, polling comprisessequential or non-sequential polling of the plurality of web browsers,or polling a second web browser of the plurality of web browsers priorto obtaining data from a first web browser of the plurality of webbrowsers.

In another aspect of the invention a method includes logging a testtaker into an online testing platform prior to beginning an online test,using a web browser in association with a computing facility, pollingthe web browser to obtain data relating to the test taker's progress,summarizing the data, and presenting the summarized data to the onlinetesting platform to indicate the test taker's testing progress. In themethod, the data relating to the test taker's progress is related tocompletion of a test question. In the method, the data relating to thetest taker's progress represents a check of test taker status, testtaker idle time, aspects of network connectivity between the onlinetesting platform and the computing facility, or an indication of thetest taker requesting a proctoring action. In the method, the summarizeddata is presented to the test taker or a proctor. In the method, thetesting progress is based at least in part on a number of questionscompleted, a percentage of questions completed, a duration of time thathas expired during a testing session, or a duration of time that remainsin a testing session.

In another aspect of the invention, a method includes storing anindication of accommodations in a test taker profile, polling the testtaker profile in order to determine the accommodations, and in responsethereto using a dynamic animation compilation functionality to updatethe test taker's testing environment. In the method, the animationcomprises Flash animation. In the method, the test taker profile ispolled prior to the test taker starting a test or during a test. In themethod, the test taker accommodation is determined during a test basedat least in part on polling the test taker's testing environment. In themethod, the test taker's testing environment includes images, audio,text, font size, volume, brightness, contrast, a time duration, alanguage, a calculator, or a virtual assistant. The virtual assistant isa text FAQ, an audio FAQ, or a help menu. The help menu is keywordsearchable. In the method, the virtual assistant includes instantmessage communication with a proctor.

In another aspect of the invention, a method includes using a webbrowser in association with a computing facility for a test taker tobegin testing within an online testing platform, determining a testtaker accommodation based at least in part on polling the web browserduring the testing, and using a dynamic FLASH compilation functionalityto update the test taker's testing environment that is presented in theweb browser. In the method, the test taker accommodation is determinedduring a test based at least in part on polling the test taker's testingenvironment. The test taker's testing environment includes images,audio, text, font size, volume, brightness, contrast, a time duration, alanguage, a calculator, or a virtual assistant. In the method, thevirtual assistant is a text FAQ, an audio FAQ, or a help menu. The helpmenu is keyword searchable. In the method, the virtual assistantincludes an instant message communication with a proctor.

In another aspect of the invention, a system for polling an online testfacility includes an online testing platform for receiving a test takerlogin prior to a start of a test, a web browser in association with acomputing facility, a server for polling the web browser, and datarelating to the computing facility that is accessible through the webbrowser. In the system, the data relating to the computing facilityrelates to functionality of the computing facility. The computingfacility functionality is related to image resolution, audio capability,or video capability. In the system, the data relating to the computingfacility characterizes polling response time of the computing facility.In the system, the server for polling comprises the server forsynchronous polling or asynchronous polling. In the system, thesynchronous polling is based on a polling period. In the system, thepolling period defines a minimum polling frequency. In the system, thepolling period is predetermined or variable. The variable polling periodis based on an aspect of the test taker.

In another aspect of the invention, the method further includes aplurality of web browser associated computing facilities. In the system,polling is sequential or non-sequential to each of the plurality of webbrowsers. In the system, the server polls a second web browser of theplurality of web browsers prior to obtaining data from a first webbrowser of the plurality of web browsers.

In another aspect of the invention a system includes an online testingplatform for receiving a test taker login prior to beginning an onlinetest, a web browser in association with a computing facility, and aserver in communication with the online testing platform, the server forpolling the web browser to obtain data relating to the test taker'sprogress and provide a summary of the data to the online testingplatform, wherein the data summary indicates the test taker's testingprogress. In the system, the data relating to the test taker's progressis related to completion of a test question. In the system, the datarelating to the test taker's progress represents a check of test takerstatus, test taker, aspects of a network connectivity between the onlinetesting platform and the computing facility, or an indication of thetest taker requesting a proctoring action.

In another aspect of the invention, the system further includes theonline test platform in communication with the test taker for presentingthe data summary to the test taker, or to the proctor. In the system,the testing progress is based at least in part on a number of questionscompleted, a percentage of questions completed, a duration of time thathas expired during a testing session, or a duration of time that remainsin a testing session.

In another aspect of the invention, a system includes an indication ofaccommodations stored in a test taker profile, a test platform forpolling the test taker profile in order to determine the accommodations,and a dynamic animation compilation functionality to update the testtaker's testing environment based on the determined accommodations. Inthe system, the animation comprises Flash animation. In the system,polling the test taker profile comprises polling the test taker profileprior to the test taker starting a test, or during a test. In thesystem, the test platform is adapted for polling the test taker'stesting environment during a test in order to determine at least in partthe test taker's accommodations. The test taker's testing environmentincludes images, audio, text, font size, volume, brightness, contrast, atime duration, a language, a calculator, or a virtual assistant. Thevirtual assistant is a text FAQ, an audio FAQ, or a help menu. The helpmenu is keyword searchable. In the system, the virtual assistant is aninstant message communication with a proctor.

In another aspect of the invention, a system includes a web browser inassociation with a computing facility for presenting a test taker'stesting environment, an online testing platform for polling the webbrowser during the presentation of the testing environment to at leastpartially determine a test taker accommodation, and a dynamic FLASHcompilation functionality to update the test taker's testing environmentbased on the determined accommodation. In the system, the test takeraccommodation is determined based at least in part on the test taker'senvironment. In the system, the test taker's testing environmentincludes images, audio, text, font size, volume, brightness, contrast, atime duration, a language, a calculator, or a virtual assistant. In thesystem, the virtual assistant is a text FAQ, audio FAQ, or help menu.The help menu is keyword searchable. In the system, the virtualassistant comprises an instant message communication with a proctor.

These and other systems, methods, objects, features, and advantages ofthe present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and thedrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1—depicts a general architecture of an online test platform.

FIG. 2—depicts a login screen.

FIG. 3—depicts a welcome screen.

FIG. 4—depicts a practice screen with a wrong answer and feedback.

FIG. 5—depicts a practice screen with a wrong answer and a hint to theright answer.

FIG. 6—depicts a practice screen with a wrong answer after the rightanswer has been indicated.

FIG. 7—depicts a practice screen with the right answer and feedback.

FIG. 8—depicts a test introductory screen.

FIG. 9—depicts a vocabulary test screen with question and time progressindicators.

FIG. 9A—depicts a comprehension test screen.

FIG. 10—depicts a summary screen for a vocabulary test.

FIG. 10A—depicts a summary screen for a comprehension test.

FIG. 11—depicts a test screen selected from the summary screen of FIG.10.

FIG. 12—depicts a confirmation screen with unanswered question alert.

FIG. 13—depicts a thank you screen.

FIG. 13A—depicts a scrollable credit screen of source credits associatedwith reading passages of the comprehension test screens.

FIG. 14—depicts a welcome screen of the proctoring interface.

FIG. 15—depicts an open test on the welcome screen of FIG. 14.

FIG. 16—depicts a proctoring screen of the proctoring interface.

FIG. 17—depicts an individual student control moving within theproctoring screen of FIG. 16.

FIG. 18—depicts a testing panel of the proctoring screen of FIG. 16.

FIG. 19—depicts a finish panel of the proctoring screen of FIG. 16.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

A test platform may facilitate the development, delivery, and managementof educational tests. Such a platform may also facilitate interactiveparticipation by students, teachers, proctors, and administrators evenwhen some or all of them are remotely located. An online embodiment ofthe test platform may also gain advantage from various aspects of adistributed computing environment such as the Internet. Aspects such asopen source software, standardized highly dynamic and flexible userinterfaces, broadly compatible commercially available software (e.g. webbrowsers, browser add-ins, file systems and the like), andnear-universal networking of computing servers and clients mayfacilitate integration and enhance management and far reaching deliveryof tests.

Herein aspects of an online test platform will be described. Aspects mayinclude system architecture of an embodiment of the online testplatform, functionality and interactions among elements of the platform,operation of display screens through which test takers (e.g., students)may interact with the platform, methods of generating and updating thescreens, and benefits of such a test platform.

The platform may include, for example, administrator interfaces, testproctor interfaces, and test taker (e.g., student) interfaces. Theseinterfaces may be associated to allow each participant to view,navigate, and interact with aspects of the online test platform that areintended to meet their needs. In this way students may take advantage oftest delivery and results review; administrators may take advantage oftest construction, evaluation, and reporting; and proctors may takeadvantage of test execution and support of testing students. While theseexemplary systems, methods and advantages are described, other systems,methods, advantages, capabilities and interfaces will be appreciated byone skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed by theinvention as described herein. For example, the online test platform mayinclude a test developer interface, a regulatory interface, ateacher/educator interface, and the like.

Referring to FIG. 1, in a general architecture of an online testplatform, user stations 102 may communicate with test servers 104through an internetwork 108. Additionally, a test center 118 may includeuser stations 102 and servers 104 connected to a local network 120.Internetwork 108 and local network 120 may be connected so that servers104 on either network may communicate with each other and with stations102 on either network. Internetwork 108 and local network 120 mayinclude intranets such as a school intranet, a school district intranet,a university intranet, a company intranet, a testing center intranet, avirtual intranet, and the like. The online test platform 100 facilitatesa station 102 supporting a variety of users such as students, proctors,administrators, and the like. In this way, a station 102 may not need tobe dedicated to a particular user or function. A test station 102 may bea computing facility such as a personal computer (e.g., desktop, laptop,palmtop, handheld, PDA, kiosk, etc.). A server 104 may also be acomputing facility such as a personal computer, web server, databaseserver, and the like. Students, proctors, administrators, and otherusers of the online test platform 100 may interact independently oftheir physical location through a networked aspect of the online testplatform 100. The stations 102, servers 104, and networks 110, 120depicted here are representative examples of elements of the online testplatform 100 and as such, this configuration is exemplary in nature andshould not be considered limiting the systems and methods describedherein. Other computing facilities, wired and wireless networks, and thelike that may communicate with a local network or the Internet are alsoincluded within the scope of embodiments of the online test platform100.

A test taker may interact with the online test platform 100 by using atest station 102 that includes a web browser such as Microsoft IE,Foxfire, Opera, Safari, Netscape, or other software that enables a userto display and interact with text, images, videos, audio and otherinformation that may be displayed in a web browser. The user may use theuser interface of the station 102 to direct the station 102 web browserto a website of the online test platform 100 where the station 102 webbrowser may retrieve HTML, XHTML, or other web page display content andinstructions. The instructions may include specific commands interpretedby the web browser that may check a configuration of the station 102. Aconfiguration checking utility such as Browser Hawk from cyScape,Incorporated may perform the checking. The configuration check mayinclude determining if software, operating systems, and/or web browserplug-ins that may facilitate using the online test platform 100 areinstalled on the station 102 and accessible to the web browser. Anexample of one such software and/or plug-in may be Adobe Flash softwareand web browser plug-in. If the configuration check determines someportion of software that may facilitate using the online test platform100 is not installed or activated, the web browser may execute one ormore instructions associated with the web page so that the software maybe downloaded, installed, and activated on the station 102. Theinstructions may include automatically executing an installation programsuch as an install wizard on the station 102. The installation programmay require interaction by the user to ensure a successful download andinstallation of the software.

The configuration check may include verifying software, hardware,network connections, and the like that may be required to allow theonline test session to function properly. The network connection may betested to ensure the connection bandwidth, availability, and protocolsupport are sufficient to transmit test information between the station102 and a server 104. The configuration check may be initiated by a userlogging into the online testing platform 100. Alternatively, theconfiguration check may be initiated by the station 102 accessing a URL,web page, or network address associated with a server 104 of the onlinetesting platform 100, or accessing any aspect of an online test, such asa practice screen, a testing screen, a landing page, and the like. Thecheck may be initiated each time the station 102 connects to thenetwork. The check may further be initiated based on informationaccessible to the web browser such as a cookie, file, or other dataelement.

Preparing the station 102, which may include the configuration check forproper operation may include transferring software from a server,deactivating software currently available on the station 102, and thelike.

A testing site 118 may include a plurality of servers 104 and aplurality of stations 102. In embodiments, the testing site allows thestations 102 to connect directly with an external network (e.g., theInternet) without the use of internal sever facilities. The site 118support for tools such as JAVA, AJAX, FLASH, Browser Hawk, and the likemay first be certified. For example, each station 102 may be certifiedby Browser Hawk at least the first time a user accesses the online testplatform 100. The Browser Hawk may verify the station 102 each time theuser accesses the online test platform 100. This level of certificationprovides the benefit of ensuring a test site 118 provides the requiredsupport so that, when users access the online test platform 100, thestation 102 they are using is certified. This facilitates multiple usersusing the same station 102 from time to time and adding new stations 102to the site 118.

Upon completion of the download or a determination that the software isalready downloaded, the web browser and associated software may display,within the web browser window on the station 102 display, a login screensuch as that shown in FIG. 2. A user may select the User ID entry field202 and enter a User ID. Likewise, the user may select the Passwordentry field 204 and enter a Password. The User ID and Password may beused to identify the user accessing the online test platform 100 whenthe user selects the Login button 208.

The software running within the web browser associated with the onlinetest platform 100 may be a secure browser so that the user cannot usethe station 102 for any other purpose until the testing is complete. Webbrowsers and stations 102 generally allow control function access suchas “ALT-TAB” to select an alternate program and “CTL-C” and “CTL-V” forcopy and pasting user selectable items. These exemplary controlfunctions may be disabled by the online test platform 100 in the station102 while the user is taking a test. In this way, the user cannot simplycopy and paste answers or switch to another program such as a wordprocessing program that may have answers to the questions.

Printing may be restricted in a test taker station 102 and in a proctorstation so that printing is restricted based on login security. Secureaccess to printing also may provide additional security to the contentassociated with the platform in that the content may not be printedwithout proper access. Additionally, FLASH movie technology may providesecurity benefits in that standard system functions available withcomputer operating systems cannot capture and print FLASH movies.

Using test presentation technology such as FLASH may eliminate or reducerequiring custom testing software programs loaded onto testing siteservers, test stations, and the like. The online testing platform 100may provide an effective, beneficial testing environment requiring astandard browser and standard support for FLASH movie display within thebrowser.

By executing the HTML or equivalent instructions associated withselection of the Login button 208, the web browser may transfer the UserID and Password to a server 104 associated with the web page forvalidation and identification. The web browser may be configured toencrypt transfer of the information to provide security of theinformation while in transit to the server 104. Alternatively, the HTMLinstructions may explicitly encode or encrypt the information.

If the User ID and Password are known to the server 104, the server 104may associate the current user's use of the online test platform 100with a record of the user that may be stored in a database. The recordstored in the database may include information necessary to facilitateproviding test questions relevant to the user, such as questions basedon a level of experience or training completed by the user. In anexample, the user may be associated with a particular grade, class,language, training course, and the like that may have associated with itone or more questions that may be presented to the user. The user may bevalidated to proceed with the online test platform 100.

If the User ID and Password are not known to the server 104, the server104 may provide a signal to the web browser that may be interpreted bythe web browser to display a message to the user. The message mayinclude an offer to the user to re-enter the User ID and/or Password.The message may include an offer to the user to register with the onlinetest platform 100 to establish a record to be stored in the database andassociate the record with the entered User ID and Password so that theuser may be validated to proceed with the online test platform 100.

A validated user may initiate an online test platform 100 sessionwherein the server 104 associates the validated User ID with thespecific station 102 and/or web browser through which the User ID andPassword were entered. This may allow the server 104 to uniquelyassociate communication from the online test platform 100 session with auser record.

If the User ID and Password are known to the server 104, but an existingsession is associated with the entered User ID, (e.g., there iscurrently another test taker accessing the online test platform 100 withthe entered User ID and Password), the server 104 may signal the webbrowser to display an advisory alert to the user indicating thesituation. The alert may include a selection for the user to reset thecurrent login attempt or to continue with the entered User ID andPassword. Continuing with the entered User ID and Password may cause theexisting session associated with the entered User ID to be terminated.Alternatively, it may redirect communication associated with theexisting session to the station 102 so that the user takes over thesession at the point at which it was interrupted by continuing thelogin. In an example, a first user with User ID USER1 may be logged intoonline test platform 100 and may have answered questions # 1 through # 4and question #4 is displayed in a web browser. A second user completeslogin with User ID USER1. Communication between the first user webbrowser and the server 104 is terminated so that the first user islogged out. The web browser of the second user displays question #4instead of question # 1. This may be useful in recovering from aninterruption in communication of the USER1 session, such as a computercrash.

Once the user has been validated, the server 104 may communicate withthe web browser so that additional HTML instructions may be provided todisplay a welcome screen such as shown in FIG. 3. The welcome screen mayprovide a GO-ON 302 selectable icon to proceed with the online testplatform 100. The welcome screen may also provide one or more HELP 304selectable icons for receiving HELP 304 with aspects of the online testplatform 100.

The web browser used to access the online test platform 100 maycommunicate with the server 104 using asynchronous data transfer (suchas HTTP requests) between the browser and the server 104. This mayfacilitate timely transmitting user input data and other data related toan online test platform 100 session to the web server 104. It alsofacilitates faster updates of the online test platform 100 display inthe web browser by supporting partial updates of the displayed web pagewhen the server 104 sends data and/or updates information to the webbrowser. One example of such asynchronous data transfer software thatcouples with web browsers is AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML).AJAX is based on open standards such as JavaScript, XML, HTML, and CSS.Therefore the online test platform 100 may be supported by all major webbrowsers and may be platform independent.

During a user session of the online test platform 100, the server 104may be polled by the web browser, such as to determine the currentscreen to be displayed to the user. The frequency of polling may beconfigurable, such as by an administrator of the online test platform100. A default polling frequency may be 30 seconds, yet it may beadjusted down or up for purposes such as reducing network traffic peruser in configurations with many simultaneous users of the system, ordecreasing system response time.

The server 104 may be polled to determine where a test taker, such as astudent is in the test and whether the proctor has changed anything suchas added time, paused the test, stopped the test, invalidated thesession, and other test session related actions. The server 104 and/orthe station 102 may log polling related activity. Determining where thestudent is in the test may facilitate the server 104 providing theinformation, such as questions, reading text, and the like, for the nextscreen to be displayed when the user selects GO-ON 302. Next screeninformation may be maintained by the server 104 and by the station 102,such as by the station 102 web browser. The server 104 and or the user'sweb browser may record and log this information. This information may beuseful in tracking a user's progress through the online test platform100 and may allow the server 104 or the web browser to track aspects ofa user's performance such as aspects related to time. Recording andlogging aspects such as how long a question is displayed to a userbefore the user answers the question, how many changes to an answerchoice a user makes before submitting the answer, and the like may beuseful in evaluating aspects of the user, the question, and or theonline test platform 100. This information may also be useful inimproving the performance of the online test platform 100 by allowingthe server 104 to download information that may be used to generate thenext screen. In this way, although the information is passed between theserver 104 and the user's web browser throughout the testing, the usermay perceive the test as executing rapidly as it would if it wererunning locally on the station 102.

The server 104 may poll the user station 102, such as to record useractions detected through the user interface of the online testingplatform 100. User input information that is collected by a web browsertypically is delivered to a web server through the submission of a webform. A web form may be displayed in a user friendly format such as on aweb page to facilitate a user entering the information in the form, orthe form may be generated dynamically when a user issues a submit typecommand in a web page. However, this approach may not provide sufficientand timely information about a student or test taker interacting with anonline testing session. Therefore, the platform 100 supports polling tocollect user interaction with the online testing session in a moretimely and useful manner than web form submission. Polling allowsupdating a server 104 without the test taker or user requesting thatinformation provided by the user be submitted to the server. Pollingalso allows a server 104 to respond to user conditions more dynamicallythan using web forms. Polling also may allow a server 104 or a proctorto monitor user activity and react to that activity. In an example, auser may have selected a response to a test question but may not haveselected to submit the response. Through polling the user's inputs, atest proctor may determine which response the user has selected and maymake a suggestion or provide guidance to the user. In another example ofpolling, the server 104 may detect (at the next polling interval) that auser has selected a help icon of the online test platform 100 userinterface.

The user station 102 may poll the server 104 as herein described toretrieve additional information relating to the presentation of the testscreens to the user of the station 102. The web page, such as a FLASHprogram, presented to the user through the user web browser may includeperiodic polling of the server to retrieve screen update information.This may be beneficial when a proctor of an online test session takessome action that impacts online test takers participating in the testsession. In an example, a proctor may take an action that would causethe test to pause after the user completes the current test question.Through the station 102 polling the server 104 while the user isevaluating the current test question, the web browser may display anindicator or otherwise alert the user of the pending proctor action. Theweb page displayed in the station 102 web browser may present theindicator to the user after receiving new display instructions, such ascompiled FLASH code or HTML code, after receiving a completely new webpage, instructions to modify the loaded web page being displayed, andthe like.

Servers 104 may independently poll stations 102 and stations 102 mayindependently poll servers 104, polling may be coordinated, or pollingmay only occur from server 104 to station 102 or from station 102 toserver 104. Polling behavior may change based on conditions related tothe test session, the server 140, the station 102, the network ornetworks associated with the testing session, and the like. In anexample, polling of the server 104 may be suspended when a user isreading instructions. In another example, station 102 polling frequencymay be increased when the web page displayed includes a large number ofpotential actions to be taken by the user.

Polling further facilitates diversification of networking schemesassociated with an online testing session. Polling may facilitateallowing a proctor to monitor a test taker even if the test taker andthe proctor are using stations 102 that are associated with distinctlocal computer networks, or the stations 102 are connected to networkssupported by different network providers. Polling may facilitate aserver 104 monitoring a station 102 (or a station 102 monitoring aserver 104) even if the station 102 and the server 104 are associatedwith networks supported by different network providers.

Polling further supports other functions associated with an onlinetesting platform 100, such as tracking progress. Tracking test progressmay include determining the number of test questions completed, apercentage of questions completed, test session duration, test sessiontime remaining, or a combination of these (e.g. time per completedquestion) and other data associated with the platform 100, server 104,station 102, proctor, test taker, network, testing facility, and thelike. Detecting, collecting, recording, and reporting user idle time maybe facilitated by polling.

Determining interruptions in connectivity between a server 104 orproctor and a test taker station 102 may be facilitated by polling. Theplatform may include a plurality of servers 104 so that in the event ofan interruption of in connectivity between a server 104 and a station102, the station may determine that the connection has been interruptedand initiate polling with another server 104. Because information aboutthe current testing session with a station 102 may be stored by a testserver 104 on a network file server, the alternate test server may pickup service of the test session automatically. Additionally, servers 104may exchange information about test sessions to facilitate automatedswitch over, backup, load distribution, and the like. Polling may allowa server 104 to determine if a test session communication has beeninterrupted. If communication to the station 102 is reestablished, theserver 104 may poll the station 102 and determine it has resumed thetest session with another server 104.

To further facilitate reducing interruptions in testing sessions, thestation 102 may record all pertinent information about the test sessionthat may allow the station 102 to initiate a connection with analternate server 104 to resume an interrupted test session. However,local storing of test information may require rigorous security toensure that the locally stored information cannot be extracted from thestation 102. Therefore, storing test information associated with aninstance of an on-line test session on a server 104 and identifying theinformation with a unique identifier, such as a test number mayfacilitate secure recovery. Putting serialized XML information on eachstation 102 may be subject to security threats in that a sophisticatedintruder may de-serialize the XML and figure out the serialization andother algorithms that may allow access to the supposedly secure data onthe station 102. Providing a separate piece of security communicationhardware with each station 102, a group of stations 102, or with atesting site increases costs over a server based platform.

Communication between a server 104 and a station 102 may be adapted tofacilitate high quality recovery of an interrupted test session. Thecommunication may include prioritizing communication data packets toincrease the quality of recovery. Data packets may be sized to increasethe quality of a recovery (e.g. small packets may be used).

Detecting when a student has initiated an action requiring interventionby a proctor or server 104 may also be facilitated by polling. Pollingmay be beneficial to proctoring as described elsewhere herein. Theplatform may include functionality that summarizes data obtained throughpolling about a test taker or about a plurality of test takers. Thesummarized data may be presented to the test taker, a proctor, anadministrator, a regulatory agency, a medical professional, and anyother person, body, or organization. The summarized data may be usefullyapplied to ongoing use of the platform to improve performance, reducecost, ease integration, ease use, and the like.

Polling may be synchronous, such as on a regular schedule, asynchronous,such as randomly timed, event based, and the like. Polling may be donein a sequential mode so that each user station 102 participating in atesting session may be polled in sequence. Polling may be performed sothat the time between polling of a user station 102 may be less than amaximum time. Similarly, polling may be limited so that a user stationmay not be polled more frequently than a minimum time or not polled morethan a maximum number of times per minute, hour, test session, and thelike.

Polling frequency may be dynamically adjusted based on historical data.Analysis of historical data may indicate that polling more frequentlyduring the first several questions of a test session than during theremainder of the test session is beneficial in that test takers are morelikely to need help or get frustrated by long waits for help at thestart of a session. In an example, polling by the server 104 may belimited to twice per minute of the first five questions of a testsession, and once per minute for the next ten questions. Individual userhistorical behavior may be analyzed to determine an individual userpolling profile. In an example, a student may have historically neededno help when answering math questions, but may have historicallyrequired help with word definition when answering reading comprehensionquestions. A polling profile for this example user could be adjustedbased on the test question presented to the user.

The screens presented through the user's web browser may be generated byand include Macromedia FLASH content. The server 104 may maintain testassembly information (such as questions, sections of questions, sequenceof questions, answers, and the like) in memory, online file storage, alocal file system, a distributed file system, a (distributed) relationaldatabase or relational model, and other storage appropriate for storingand retrieving test assembly information. The screens and navigationcontrol criteria may be compiled dynamically (on the fly) such as byusing an open source dynamic compilation software system (e.g.OpenLaszlo from Laszlo Systems, Incorporated) to generate FLASH for thestudent screens using the stored test assembly information. Thisprovides the advantage of not needing precompiled FLASH movies for everyscenario. Each of the user interfaces and interactions described hereinmay be displayed using these display and interaction techniques.

The screens presented to the test taker through a web browser may begenerated by assembling FLASH animations on-demand, such as when astudent requests to take a particular test. On-demand FLASH animationallows the platform to store test assembly information rather thancompleted tests so that if a test is requested, the FLASH animation topresent the test to the user may be compiled when needed. Each compiledinstance of a test may be independently stored so that changes to thetest assembly parts may not cause a compiled test instance to changewhile the test instance is being used by a student. This preventschanges to tests that are currently being taken and allows changes to bemade dynamically so that the next test compilation request may includethe changes. Because the test platform 100 may be web server based,stations 102 with different versions of FLASH installed may berequesting the same tests. On-demand test compilation facilitatescompiling a test so that it may be compatible with a particular versionof FLASH running on the station 102 requesting the test. This allows theplatform to flexibly support a diversity of user environments withoutrigorously requiring each station 102 at each testing center, school,business, and the like to upgrade to a particular version of a requiredcomponent such as FLASH. An on-demand sequence may include receiving arequest for a test, drawing test assembly data from storage, compilingan appropriate version of the test using a dynamic animation compilationfacility of the platform 100, and delivering the test to the station 102web browser for presentation to the user.

Test compilation may be performed by a server 104, a station 102, or acombination of the server 104 and the station 102. Combined testcompilation may provide benefits such as allowing the user or anintermediary such as a testing site proctor to select options and setpreferences associated with the test session. The server 104 may compilea portion of the test and provide uncompiled portions (e.g. raw data)and the compiled portion to the station 102 or intermediary where theclient preferences may be integrated into a final test compilation.

Test compilation may incorporate user or site preferences that may beprovided to the server 104 when a test is requested. The server 104 maycompile a test, such as a FLASH animation, that is responsive to thepreferences (e.g. grade level, number of questions, and the like) andmay store the compiled test. The server 104 may then respond to the testrequester with a location of the compiled test (e.g. a URL or networkaddress). The test requester, such as a user who has logged into thetest platform, may take the test by directing a web browser to thelocation of the compiled test.

This dynamic compilation capability of the online test platform 100facilitates adjusting a testing session to meet a user's specific needs,as would be required for a special needs student or a student with anindividualized education plan. When the dynamic FLASH compilationcapability is combined with server 104 polling, a user testingenvironment can be updated with accommodations while the user is takingthe test by updating the FLASH running through the user's web browser atthe next polling action. In an example, a user accommodation flag may beset in a user profile on the server 104 prior to a user logging into theonline test platform 100 so that the test environment presented to theuser may include flagged accommodations. Alternatively, it may be set ata later time dynamically during use of the online test platform 100,thereby providing the user accommodations such as different images,audio, font size, volume, display brightness or contrast, languages, useof a calculator, extended time, and the like that may be beneficial tothe special needs student. Accommodations provided through the platformmay include a virtual assistant that may include test based frequentlyasked questions, audio or video based frequently asked questions,instant messaging with a test proctor, a help menu such as a keywordsearchable help menu, and the like. Technologies such as compiled FLASH,HTML or DHTML rendering of all test screen content may not provide thedynamic updating capability or responsiveness of the online testplatform 100. Accommodations, such as those indicated based on a userprofile, testing metadata, user preferences, a user request, trainingand/or practice question responses, and the like may be automaticallyprovided. However, accommodations may only be provided if they areapproved by a proctor of the online testing session. Thereforeaccommodation requests may follow a flow that includes presenting theaccommodation requests to a proctor and authorization by the proctorbefore the accommodations are included in a dynamically compiled testanimation.

Audio content may be included in an on-line test session and may bedynamically compiled with the visual portion of the test. Audio contentmay be greater for certain age groups such as young children (e.g.preschool, kindergarten, and the lower grades) who may not have masteredsignificant reading skills. The percent of audio content may bedifferent and the content itself may be different. Audio cues may beembedded in training and/or practice screens, such as to facilitatedetermining a student's ability to interact successfully with the testplatform 100. In an example, audio content may include audioinstructions on how to answer a question.

Audio content may be streamed from the server 104 to the station 102,such as through an MP3 stream that may be facilitated by and coordinatedwith a FLASH animation of test screens to provide the audio inassociation with the test screens. Audio prompts may be included thatrelate to navigation or other aspects. In an example, a user mayposition a cursor of the user interface over an icon displayed in atest, training and/or practice screen and may hear an audio prompt suchas the ‘name’ of the icon or the function the icon performs, or someother useful audio prompt.

Audio content may be integrated with displayed screens of the testplatform, such as may be displayed during an on-line test session. AnMP3 audio queue may be played based on a trigger provided by theplatform 100. The trigger may be based on user input, such as user icon,navigation, button, or answer selection. The trigger may be based on thecontext of the test session, such as the screen presented, the nextscreen to present, the amount of time elapsed, the amount of timeremaining, the number of questions answered, the number remaining, andthe like. The audio content may be adapted based on user input,preferences, profile, and the like. In an example, two students may betaking the same exam and the primary language for one of the studentsmay be Portuguese. The student profile may indicate the primary languagedifference and therefore the audio may include Portuguese instead ofbeing completely in English. Adapting the audio may facilitateinternationalization of the platform 100. In an example of audio contentusage, a student may position a user interface cursor over a displayedprompt, such as a text portion or text answer, and the platform may playaudio content associated with the prompt. In the example the user maylisten as the platform 100 reads a question and reads each answer. Thetest platform 100 may respond to a user selecting an answer by playingaudio content associated with the answer. In another example, a user mayselect a word, such as by clicking on a word (or double clicking) or byproviding some other input, and the compiled test session may respond bypronouncing the word. In another example, a user may select a help iconand an audio response such as “please ask for help” may be playedthrough the station 102 audio interface.

Audio content, such as MP3 audio content, may be presented in cues. EachMP3 audio cue may be a separate file that is provided to the station, orcompiled into the FLASH animation. Common audio prompts, such asnavigation prompts, may be provided to the station, but may not becomplied into each test screen FLASH. Instead, the FLASH may activate aMP3 file or cue on the station 102 and the MP3 audio may play throughthird party MP3 audio player functionality. MP3 audio content may beconfigured as cues that may be concatenated into words, sentences, andthe like. FLASH animation may activate each cue so that a sequence ofcues may result in a proper pronunciation of a word. A cue sequence maybe determined for each word so that the proper sound of letters withmultiple pronunciations may be provided. The cues and/or concatenationof cues may be compiled on the fly based on the particular text presentin the test screen.

Navigation from one test screen to the next/previous test screen may besupported by two or more navigation icons, such as GO-ON 302 and GO-BACK308. GO-ON 302 may be activated when the user has completed thenecessary aspects of the test of the current screen to proceed to thenext test screen (e.g. the next test question). The GO-ON 302 button maybe deactivated when the online test platform 100 determines that theuser must complete a required portion of the current test screen beforeproceeding to the next test screen. The GO-BACK 308 button may beactivated by the online test platform 100 to allow a user to return to aprevious test screen. The GO-ON 302 and GO-BACK 308 buttons may bevisually indicated as being disabled by being displayed in a lowcontrast and/or in a color (such as gray) other than the color when itis active. By disabling the GO-ON 302 and GO-BACK 308 buttons, theonline test platform 100 visually indicates to users that they mustcomplete some actions on the current test screen before navigating toanother test screen. Navigation buttons may include logic or rules thatmay affect how the platform responds to a user clicking a navigationbutton. The rules may prevent a user from effectively skipping through atest question unintentionally by clicking the GO-ON 302 button tooquickly. The logic/rules may be associated with the dynamic compilationof test screens. In an example, after a user selects the GO-ON 302button, the button may not accept another user click until the nextscreen is displayed for a minimum amount of time, such as 1 second. Inanother example, the rules/logic may display a prompt, to which the usermust respond, if the user selects to go-on when the platform detectsthat the user cursor has not been moved off of the GO-ON 302 icon sincethe last click of the GO-ON 302 icon and the user did not previouslyanswer the question displayed on the test screen that appears after thelast click of the GO-ON 302 icon.

Navigation functionality associated with training, practice, test, oradministrative screens of the on-line test platform 100, may be appliedto proctor, administrator, and other user screens of the platform 100.

The online test platform 100 may display a HELP 304 button on anyscreen, such as a welcome screen, a test screen, a practice screen, aconfirmation screen, or a summary screen. Selecting the HELP 304 screenmay provide instructions or other guidance to a user who may need HELP304 interacting successfully with the currently displayed online testplatform 100 screen.

The online test platform 100 may be presented to the user in a sequenceof screens with which the user may use a web browser to interact. Thesequence of screens may be based at least in part on user input such asselection of an answer, a HELP 304 button, a GO-ON 302 button or aGO-BACK 308 button, and the like. The user may be presented with one ormore of these or similar navigation buttons based at least in part on anaspect of the current status of the user's interaction with the onlinetest platform 100. Other navigation buttons that may be provided to theuser include I'M-DONE, which may be presented to the user after the userhas navigated through each of the test screens. A CHECK-MY-WORK buttonmay be presented to the user when a user has selected to review ananswer from a confirmation screen.

The online test platform 100 may provide the user an opportunity totrain using the online test platform 100 so that the user may becomefamiliar with the interactions necessary to complete each question. Usertraining may be provided through practice screens displayed to the userthrough the user's web browser. The practice screen as shown in FIGS. 4and 5 may include a question and a list of possible answers, each answerincluding a button that may be selected with a pointing device of theweb browser such as a computer mouse. The GO-ON 302 button may bedisabled during a practice screen until the user has selected thecorrect answer.

Practice screens may provide information about the use of the onlinetest platform 100 simultaneously with presenting questions to beanswered by the user. The information may be dynamically displayed basedat least in part on a user input. The information may also be based atleast in part on an aspect of the status of the user's interaction witha practice screen, such as the number of incorrect tries a user has madeto answer the current question. As shown in FIG. 4, a practice screenmay provide clues to the user, based at least in part on a selection ofan answer by the user. In FIG. 4, the user has selected an incorrectanswer, and the online test platform 100 has displayed a clue 402indicating that the answer is wrong. In FIG. 5, the user has selectedanother wrong answer, and the online test platform 100 has presented aclue 402 indicating the right answer. As shown in the sequence of FIGS.4 and 5, the online test platform 100 provides stronger feedback foreach of the first two wrong answers selected by the user on a practicescreen. If the user selects another wrong answer after the online testplatform 100 has indicated the right answer, an “assistance needed”indication 602 to the user to seek HELP 304 may be presented as shown inFIG. 6. While displaying a practice screen, the online test platform 100may, as shown in FIG. 7, display a positive acknowledgement 702 forselecting a right answer, and a progress message 704 may direct the userto click the GO-ON 302 button. The GO-BACK 308 icon may be disabledthroughout the practice screens. Student responses to training and/orpractice screens may be analyzed, such as in association with aperformance rule, to determine the level of the student's preparednessto take the test.

Training or practice screens may include questions, features, andaccommodations based on aspects of a user, such as may be represented byinformation in a user profile associated with the platform 100. Thetraining and/or practice screens may be dynamically generated for eachuser based on the user profile, which may include a user history,demographics, educational assessments, special education plans, laws,preferences, and the like. In an example, a dynamic animationcompilation facility associated with the platform may adapt thepresentation of training and/or practice screens by adjusting the numberof questions, the number of opportunities to select a correct answer,time associated with the training and/or practice screens, and the like.

An on-line test may involve testing a large number of students duringthe same test session. The students taking the test together may havedemonstrated very different levels of academic progress. Therefore anacademically gifted or advanced student may benefit from questions withgreater difficulty or complexity, while an academically below averagestudent may not benefit from the same questions. To accommodate bothnormal diversity of academic skill and special needs diversity, the testquestions presented to the user may be based on the user responses tothe training and/or practice screens. The platform 100 may be associatedwith an adaptive testing module that may determine, for each userinstance of testing, an individual test question starting point.Practice or training question responses could be used to set a level atwhich the adaptive test would be generated for the individual userinstance. In an example, a user who has previously demonstrated highacademic skill, and has successfully completed the adapted trainingand/or practice screens, may be presented with a set of advancedquestions from the online test session. In the example, a student withaverage academic skill may be presented the standard test questions.Further in the example, a student who has significant trouble with thetraining and/or practice screens may be offered accommodations such asan on-line dictionary, or the like to facilitate taking the test. Anonline test may be compiled on-demand for each student and may includeonly the questions, accommodations, and other adjustments determined forthat student.

Each student may be associated with a profile that may include testingmetadata related to the student. The metadata may be used by theplatform 100 to set accommodations, and support updating content in thetest taker's web browser based on the testing metadata. Testing metadatamay include user testing history such as testing results, prior testingperformance, testing achievement levels, and the like. The testingmetadata may be delivered along with test results for scoring the testso that information such as test information, student information,scoring rules, and the like may be associated with the testing sessionand the scoring of the test.

The test screens of the online test platform 100 may first be presentedto the user once the user has completed the practice screens and selectsGO-ON 302. The online test platform 100 may provide a singleintroductory screen prior to displaying the test screens. Thisintroductory screen provides relevant instruction, information, and/orguidance for completing the test screens. FIG. 8 depicts theintroductory screen. The introductory screen indicates the number ofquestions to answer 802, the number of minutes 804, and progressindicators 808 for time used and questions completed. Note that theprogress indicators 808 are present and active for all subsequent testscreens.

The online test platform 100 may also include test screens that maydisplay a list of answers similarly to a practice screen. One such testscreen for a vocabulary test is depicted in FIG. 9 with the list ofanswers shown as item 908. However, the test screen may not include thehints and detailed instructions for completing each question that werepresented in the practice screens.

A user may select an answer from a list of possible answers on a testscreen, or the user may decide to provide no answer before displayingthe next test screen by selecting the GO-ON 302 button. In this way auser may not be forced to answer a question before proceeding to anotherquestion. A user may also select a GO-BACK 308 button, when it isactivated by the online test platform 100, to display the test screenpresented immediately prior to the current test screen. This may beuseful for reviewing a question just answered or selecting an answer fora question just skipped.

Responses to test questions may include text responses, such as aresponse typed into an open text field presented to the user. The typedresponse may be a language response, a numeric response, or acombination thereof. Responses may also be audio based responses such asa pronunciation of a word, normal speech, foreign language recitation,and the like. Responses to test questions may also be video based. Atest of sign language may require a video response. A test of airporttarmac traffic direction knowledge may require a video response.

Test questions may include text, video, audio, images, any combinationthereof, and the like. Test question responses may include selectingamong a plurality of responses that include text, video, audio, images,any combination thereof, and the like

Referring again to FIG. 9, a user may de-select an answer previouslyselected by selecting the answer button 910 associated with thepreviously selected answer.

The test screen may display a status indicator such as a completionstatus bar that provides indication of relative progress towardcompletion of the test questions. At least a portion of the indicatormay change to a different color based on a ratio of the number ofanswers provided to the total number to be presented in the session. Thetest screen may also provide a time indicator, representing a ratio oftime used in the session to a total time allowed to complete thesession. In an example, FIG. 9 shows a question progress bar indicatingthat approximately a very small number of the questions to be presentedhave been completed. FIG. 9 also shows a time indicator bar indicatingthe amount of time used of the total of 30 minutes allowed to completethe session. Other indication forms such as a pie chart, a count, aclock, a digital timer, and the like may alternatively represent thetest completion status and the time used status. The test question andtime used indicators may be useful to a user in allocating test time toquestions. It may also be useful to indicate to users how many morequestions they have to answer, including questions they may have chosento initially skip. The progress indicators 808 may include a total countof questions 902 and a total time allowed 904. These may facilitate auser assessing how many of the total questions 902 have been answered bycomparing the amount of the progress bar 808 consumed to the totalnumber of questions. The time progress bar 808 may facilitate similaruser assessment of the time of the test.

Comprehension test screens that include both a reading passage 920 and alist of questions 922, as shown in FIG. 9A, may include an auto-scrollfeature that facilitates a user scrolling the list of questions 922while keeping the reading passage prompt visible on the screen. Acomprehension test screen may also include a question status menu 924 tofacilitate viewing the current answer status of each question associatedwith the screen and for rapidly accessing the questions. The questionnumbers displayed in the question status menu 924 increment with eachsubsequent comprehension test screen displayed so that the user caneasily determine how many questions are left to answer. The list ofquestions 922 may automatically scroll so that the entire question andeach possible answer are scrolled into the visible portion of the userweb browser window when the user selects a test question number in thequestion status menu 924 or the test question in the list 922. Byproviding automatic scrolling, the user does not have to spend timelearning how to use the scroll mechanism to find a particular question,thereby saving valuable time to read or re-read a passage and answer thequestion. The auto-scroll feature may be activated any time there aremore questions than can be displayed at one time. This situation mayoccur more often for a comprehension test question than a vocabularyquestion because the comprehension test may include a plurality ofquestions about the passage.

The user may use the GO-ON 302 and GO-BACK 308 buttons to view each testscreen, answering or skipping any questions on each screen. When theuser selects GO-ON 302 on the last test screen in the sequence, aconfirmation summary screen as shown in FIG. 10 may appear through whicha user may confirm the status of each question and review the answersprovided to each question. The summary page may include an instruction1002 to the user so that the user can effectively use the summary page.The summary page may further include a list of the questions the userhas viewed in the test sequence. Those questions that the user has notanswered may include an associated status icon 1004. The user may selecteither a question number 1008 or the status icon 1004 to automaticallyview the test screen associated with the question number 1008. Once theuser has selected and reviewed any questions on the summary page, theuser can select the I'M DONE icon 1010. Note that the I'M DONE icon 1010replaces the GO-ON 302 and GO-BACK 308 icons displayed on the testpages. The I'M-DONE icon 1010 may indicate to the server 104 that theuser has completed any desired review of the questions.

FIG. 10A depicts a summary screen for a comprehension test session.

The user may select one of the items as described herein that may beassociated with a question in the confirmation list to display the testpage associated with the question. The review test page shown in FIG. 11allows a user to de-select an answer, select another answer, select ananswer if one was not already selected, or make no changes. The user maythen select the CHECK-MY-WORK icon 1102 to return to the confirmationscreen. Note that the CHECK-MY-WORK icon 1102 replaces the GO-ON 302 andGO-BACK 308 icons shown on the test screen when the user initiallyviewed the test screens.

As a result of the user selecting the I'M DONE icon 1010, the server 104may determine that the user has not completed all of the questions andmay direct the web browser to (or the web browser may determine it and)display an alert 1202 as shown in FIG. 12 indicating the number ofunanswered questions. The alert may include a choice to complete thetest with unanswered questions or to return to the confirmation screen.

Once a user has completed viewing all questions, has indicated to theonline test platform 100 he or she is done, and has confirmed that allunanswered questions are acceptable, the online test platform 100 mayclose the user testing session and display a credit screen as shown inFIG. 13 before returning to the user login screen of FIG. 2. If the testmay have an AUTO PROGRESS flag set to true, the student may be able totake the next subtest in the assessment sequence.

The online testing platform 100 may be associated with a ServiceOriented Architecture (SOA). The platform may include service orientedarchitecture as a point-to-point service connection such as may berepresented by one provider and one consumer. One of the services (e.g.a test proctoring service) may be registered with another service of theSOA (e.g. a test administration/content service) using a remote methodindication, such as Java's RMI.

An SOA registry may be used with the platform so that enterprise servicebusinesses may be dynamically discovered by third parties or externalvendors. The SOA services associated with the platform 100 may beencapsulated as Java-compliant services (modules). Java RMI and webservices 2.0 could be combined with UDDI to facilitate third partiesdiscovering the Java-compliant services (modules) of the platform 100.The services could be exposed for public consumption or maintainedbehind a firewall and exposed for private, password protectedconsumption.

In an example of a SOA with externally discoverable services, testpresentation accommodations may be provided by a third party. A thirdparty could retrieve test assembly data and provide feedback thatsupports the accommodations (e.g. larger fonts, different audio, and thelike) making the underlying test data standalone from the userinterface. In another example, the online test assembly data could beextracted so that it could interact with third party accessibilitysoftware.

The platform 100 may also support an event-driven SOA environment suchas may be facilitated by rich internet applications. An event-driveninteraction may be integrated with the station 102 to server 104communication so that, as an example, answering a question on thestation 102 triggers an event on the server 104 to perform an update ofinformation related to the testing session, rather than waiting for aweb form submission. Event-driven platform functionality may beassociated with polling to provide enhanced communication between astation 102 and a server 104.

Referring to FIG. 14, an online test platform 100 may include aproctoring interface. The proctoring interface may include variousdisplay screens for facilitating a user, or proctor interfacing, withthe online test platform 100. A welcome screen 1402 may includeselections and controls that facilitate managing proctor activitiesassociated with test selection and operation. The welcome screen 1402may include a proctoring header 1404 that may display a logo or name ofa facilitator of the proctoring platform 100, and a top level menu 1408.The welcome screen 1402 may further include a welcome message 1410, atest time frame selection 1412, and a test display area 1414. The testdisplay area 1414 may include one or more test selections 1418. The testselections 1418 may further include student names 1420, test time frame1422, and an expansion selector 1424.

The proctoring header 1404 may be similar to a header associated withother aspects of an online test platform 100 to provide branding,marketing, or other purposes such as trade marking, and the like. Theproctoring header 1404 may identify one or more business entitiesassociated with the online test platform 100. The proctoring header 1404may also include a top menu 1408 that may provide access to top levelmenu functions such as Home, Help, and Log On/Off. The top menu 1408 maybe consistent across some or all of the screens of the proctoringinterface to provide consistent and convenient access to these menuselections independent of the details of the remainder of a displayedscreen. The Home menu selection may provide a proctor access to abeginning or general display screen. Selecting the Home menu may displaythe welcome screen 1402, or another screen of the online test platform100. The Help menu selection may provide access to menus that allow aproctor to get general help, context specific help, or some combinationof general and context specific help. The menu choices presented when aproctor selects the Help menu item may be based at least in part onaspects of the currently displayed screen, so that the proctor canreceive predetermined help related to an activity the proctor iscurrently performing. The Help menu may also provide access to otherforms of help such as querying a database of frequently asked questions,requesting help from an administrator, creating custom help menus,submitting a help request, and the like. The Log On/Off menu selectionmay provide security features related to accessing aspects of the onlinetest platform 100 such as the proctoring interface. All Log On/Offaspects, functions, features, methods, and systems herein described maybe appropriately applied to the Log On/Off menu selection of the proctorheader 1404 top menu 1408.

In embodiments, the proctoring interface may enable a user to view,organizing, arrange, display, distribute, print or perform some othermanagement activity with the login and password information associatedwith test takers. For example, a proctor may be able to display thelogin username and passwords for all persons scheduled to take a testand print out this information for distribution to each test taker toinform him of the correct login procedure for a test.

In embodiments, a student that is logging into a proctored test mayfirst be directed to a page that is intended as a holding area orvirtual waiting room for the test taker until the proctor indicates thatthe test may begin. The proctor may be signaled that the user has loggedin and is waiting in the virtual waiting room for the test to begin.This waiting page may include features to occupy test takers whilewaiting for the proctor to begin an exam. For example, the waiting pagemay provide a drawing capability in which a test taker may be able touse a mouse cursor to draw lines, shapes, colors, letters, and the likeon a section of the waiting page devoted to this capability. In anotherexample, the waiting page may provide any number of games or otheractivities that are designed to break the monotony of the wait, such asword puzzles, sudoku, interactive video game, or some other activitythat may be presented to a test taker on the waiting page. Inembodiments, the waiting page may include an indication of theanticipated amount of time before a test is to begin. This indicationmay be a clock that is counting down the minutes and seconds until thestart time. In another example, the indication may be a listing of thepercentage of the total number of test takers that are logged on andready to begin the exam.

The proctoring interface welcome screen 1402 may further include awelcome message 1410. The welcome message 1410 may display temporarilyto facilitate providing critical or other welcoming information to aproctor. The welcome message 1410 may alternatively remain visible eachtime the welcome screen 1402 is displayed. The welcome message 1410 mayfurther provide different information, annotations, graphics, colors,animation, shape, and the like each time the welcome screen 1402 isdisplayed. These changes may occur only when the welcome screen 1402 isrevisited, or may occur after a period of time while the welcome screen1402 is displayed, or based on a selection of another of the controlsavailable to the proctor on the welcome screen 1402. The changes inappearance of the welcome message 1410 may be beneficial and functionalin that they may provide a visual indication to the proctor that theproctor has just logged onto the test platform 100 or is displaying thewelcome screen 1402 for the first time since logging onto the testplatform 100. The welcome message 1410 may further provide importantfeedback to the proctor that helps the proctor ensure the test platform100 has properly recognized him/her during the logon process. In anexample, as shown in FIG. 14, the proctor's name may be displayed in thewelcome message 1410. A proctor can readily determine that an errorassociated with log on may have occurred if the name displayed is notthe proctor's name.

The welcome message 1410 may, in addition to displaying the proctor'sname, may provide important information that is timely, critical for theproctor to read, or otherwise deemed necessary for the proctor to usethe proctoring interface. In such a configuration, the welcome message1410 may further include a confirmation selection that the proctor mayhave to select with the computer input device to provide positivefeedback to the platform 100 that the proctor has viewed and/or read thewelcome message 1410.

Information displayed in the welcome screen 1402 may be limited based onaccess rights and or security aspects of the proctor whose name isdisplayed in the welcome message 1410. Examples of how the proctor logon may impact information displayed on screens of the proctor userinterface will be presented with relevant disclosure herein.

The proctor welcome screen 1402 may also include a test time frameselection 1412. A test time frame may include fixed time frames such asmay be determined by a calendar or a school year, and the like. A testtime frame may include variable time frames, and/or a combination ofvariable and fixed. Variable time frames may include relative timeframes as shown in FIG. 14 that may be based at least in part on thecurrent date. In FIG. 14, the time frame selection includes Past,Current, and Future time frames. As may be anticipated, the Past andFuture selections provide access to tests that have already occurred(Past) or have not yet started (Future). In an example, selecting Pastmay display, in the test display area 1414, completed tests that theproctor has proctored before today or tests that have been taken in thepast but have not yet been finalized. Because the test time frame mayinclude resolution finer than one day, the Past selection may displayany completed test that was proctored by the current proctor before thecurrent time. Selecting the Future time frame may display one or moretests that the proctor may proctor in the future. Tests displayed whenthe Future time frame is selected may be conditional in that they may bescheduled but may or may not occur based on a contingency. Displayedfuture tests may be scheduled and may occur but may be proctored byanother proctor.

Selecting time frame selection 1412 Current, as shown in FIG. 14, maydisplay one or more tests in the test display area 1414 that the proctoris currently responsible for proctoring. The current time frame mayinclude any time period that includes the current date, day, and/ortime. In an example, a test that started yesterday and ends tomorrow maybe included in the current time frame. In another example, a test thatstarted 10 minutes ago and ends in 2 hours may be included in thecurrent time frame. An example of a test that may not be displayed inthe current time frame is a test that started yesterday and finished 2hours ago. Alternatively, the current time frame may include any testthat has unfinished proctoring activity associated with it. In anexample of this alternate embodiment of the current time frame, if aproctor has not completed all activities for a test that ended earliertoday, such as recording observations about the test, the test may bedisplayed in the current time frame rather than in the past time frame.Time frames disclosed herein are only simple examples and are not meantto be limiting. Any and all time frames, including time frames that havedependency on other events, tests, proctors, and the like may beincluded and may be represented by the time frame selector 1412.

The welcome screen 1402 of the proctoring interface of the onlinetesting platform 100 may include a test area 1414. The area may bedisplayed as shown in FIG. 14. As indicated herein, one or more tests1418 associated with the time frame indicated by time frame selector1412 may be displayed in the test area 1414. Tests 1418 displayed in thetest area 1414 may be associated with the currently logged in proctor.Each test 1418 may include a descriptive title, such as “Spring Basics”as shown in FIG. 14. A test 1418 may further include a start and enddate 1422, and student names 1420, and an expansion selector 1424. Startand end dates 1422 may be displayed as shown in FIG. 14 and may includea month, date, and year. Alternatively, the start and end may bedisplayed relative to the current date and may include “yesterday”,“tomorrow”, and the like. Start and end dates may be displayed as namesof days of the week. Independently of how the start and end dates aredisplayed, they may represent the earliest date a student may begin thetest (Start date) and the latest a student may finish the test (Enddate). They may also indicate to the proctor the test window of timethat the proctor is responsible for proctoring the test. The start andend dates may, or may not, indicate further limits on starting andending the test. In an example, the proctor may end the test earlierthan the end date if all students listed in student names 1420 havecompleted the test prior to the proctor ending the test. Additionally, astudent may be further limited with respect to ending a test based onwhen the student starts the test. Therefore, the start and end dates mayindicate a window of time in which the test is available to be startedby a student, and must be completed by a student. Start and end datesmay also be adjustable by a proctor to accommodate students forunavoidable circumstances such as storms, illness, and the like.

The list of student names 1420 may be displayed as shown in FIG. 14wherein the count of students associated with the test, and the names ofthe students are displayed. The number of students associated with thetest may indicate the number of students who have registered for thetest, the number qualified to take the test, the number requesting totake the test, the number remaining to complete the test, and the like.The names of the students listed 1420 may be ordered, such asalphabetically first letter of last name, or by some other order. Toprovide privacy to the students, the names may be pseudonyms created bythe online test platform 100 and linked to the actual student records.Based at least in part on the size of the screen 1402 and the size of awindow containing the screen 1402, some of the student names may not bedisplayed in the list of student names 1420. In such a configuration,the name may be ended as shown with an indication that more names thancan be displayed are associated with the test. The names of studentsassociated with the test that are not displayed, may be displayed by theproctor selecting the “more” text. Alternatively, the list of names mayautomatically scroll when the proctor places the computer mouse pointerin the general area near the right hand end of the displayed list. Thenames not displayed may be displayed when the expansion selection 1424is selected by the proctor. The expanded test display is described belowand presented in FIG. 15. Alternatively, the names not displayed mayonly be visible on another screen of the proctoring interface. Thelisting of test takers' names may be presented in association with thetest takers' login ID and password. The listing of student informationmay indicate which students are currently logged into the platform. Thisindication may be made by listing a student as “waiting,” having a checkor some other mark next to their name, or using some other indication oflogin status. The listing of student information may be presented in apop-up window. The pop-up window may be associated with a printingfunctionality. The printing functionality may permit a proctor to printthe entire list of student information, select a subset of students,select an individual student, and the like. The selection may be made bythe proctor by clicking a box next to the name of each student for whoma print out is wanted. The print functionality may also include macroprint command buttons that enable a proctor to print only one testtaker's information per page, to print all test takers on a single page,print some subset of test takers per page, or the like. Printing may bedirected to a local printer, a remote printer, a file, or any otherrelevant medium.

Referring to FIG. 15, a depiction of the welcome screen 1402 after theproctor has selected the test expansion selection 1424; the expandedtest 1514 provides additional information about the test sessionassociated with student testers and controls related to the students andthe test session. In the example of FIG. 15, a proctor may select toview and/or manage Logon IDs & Passwords 1502 of the students associatedwith the test. The proctor may also select to start the test byselecting Start Session 1504. Expanded information 1508 available to theproctor on the expanded test 1514 may include student assessment,current subtest, student activity duration, and student name. Theexpanded information 1508 may include other information associated withone or more of the students and the test. In an example, the expandedinformation 1508 may include duration metrics such as current testaverage duration, historical average duration, deviation from averagefor each student, and the like. Aggregate information such as totalnumber of requests for help, and the like may also be available.Information that facilitates proctoring the test or providing feedbackto the proctor or other user of the online test platform 100 (e.g., anadministrator) may be presented. Starting the test by selecting StartSession 1504 may result in the screen shown in FIG. 16 being displayedto the proctor.

Starting a test using the Start Session 1504 control may be associatedwith the Start Date 1422. Start Session 1504 may allow a proctor toaccess test session related information and/or controls but may notallow a student to begin testing if the date on which the proctorselects Start Session 1504 is before start date or after end date 1422.In an example, a proctor may select Start Session 1504 on Mar. 1, 2007,to facilitate preparing to proctor the test session. Alternatively, theStart Session 1504 may be unrelated to the start and end date 1422 as itpertains to students taking the test. In an example, a proctor mayselect start session 1504 during a time window between the start and enddate 1422 of the test so that the proctor can proctor the test. This mayfacilitate proctors sharing proctoring responsibility for tests byallowing a proctor to assume proctoring responsibility any time it isneeded.

Referring to FIG. 16, a depiction of a test proctoring screen 1602, theproctoring interface may provide controls and status information forproctoring a test started by selecting Start Session 1504 shown in FIG.15. The test proctoring screen 1602 may include a test header 1604 thatmay include test controls 1608, a student list control 1610, a view testinstructions control 1612, and test status panels, blades, or panes. Anopen student start panel 1614, a closed student testing panel 1618, anda closed student finish panel 1620. The test status panels may be openor closed. As shown in FIG. 16, one test status panel is open and twoare closed. This is exemplary only and not meant to limit the proctoringscreen 1602. All test status panels may be closed, and more than one maybe open. Such alternatives may be predefined by the online test platform100 or may be at least partially selectable by the proctor or anotheruser of the platform 100, such as an administrator.

The proctoring screen 1602 may include a test header 1604 that may bedisplayed and available to the proctor independently of the test statuspanel display or activity so that the proctor can view criticalinformation about the test such as the session name, session time,proctor, and number of students. Other information about the testsession such as the number of absent students, or the time remaining inthe session, or the like may alternatively be displayed in the header1604. The header 1604 may also include general test controls 1608 thatmay impact all students associated with the current test session.General test controls may allow a proctor to take any action for allstudents participating in a proctored on-line test session that theproctor could take for any one student. General controls 1608 mayinclude Start, Pause, Add Time, Void Session, and Finalize Session asshown in FIG. 16. Other controls of a general nature may also beincluded. General controls 1608 may be configurable by the proctor or anadministrator of the online test platform 100 and may be based on userpreferences. Configurability of the general test controls may be limitedso that a consistent presentation and essential general controls aredisplayed. Such limits and essential controls may be defined in or onconfiguration tables or files of the online test platform. Generalcontrols may alternatively be predefined within the online test platform100. In an example, selecting general control 1608 Start may change thestatus of the students shown in the start test status panel 1614 from“start” to “testing” so that the students may appear in the testingstatus panel 1618 when it is opened. Selecting general control 1608 VoidSession may result in the test session of each student to be cancelledand all test results entered discarded. Because voiding a session may bea considerable inconvenience for students testing 1618 or finished 1620,a confirmation of the selection may be displayed before the action tovoid the test session is executed. The confirmation may be a pop-upwindow and may include requiring the proctor to enter an authorizationcode, selecting a reason to void the test session, an acceptance of theselection, or a combination of such confirmations. This information maythen be stored as part of the audit trail information for that testsession.

In embodiments, the proctoring interface may provide a plurality oforganizational controls for organizing the content within the proctoringinterface. In an example, test takers may be represented graphicallywithin the proctoring interface as icons, or represented in some othermanner, such as a text listing of their names and associated information(e.g., the test that each is taking). The displayed representations ofthe students may be passive or may be active. Active representations(iconic, image, text, or the like) may facilitate organizing thestudents, performing proctoring related actions associated with thestudents, and the like. An active representation, such as an icon, mayallow a proctor to change a state of the test taker (e.g. start, stop,pause). Icons representing students associated with an on-line testingsession being proctored may be configured, updated, or adjusted byremote polling over a network, such as an intranet, internet, or thelike. Icons or other student representations as herein described mayinclude visual and/or audible attributes that may facilitate determiningstudent status at a glance and from a distance. The studentrepresentations may include high contrast colors to differentiatestatus, or other attributes such as blinking, color changing, and thelike. The representations of the test takers, whether graphic-, ortext-based, may be movable within the proctoring screen so that aproctor, or plurality of proctors, may visually organize informationrelating to the test takers within the proctoring interface. Suchorganization of test takers' information may be accomplished based atleast in part on a drag-and-drop functionality in which a proctor mayclick on a graphic or text that is associated with testing informationand drag it to the location in the interface where the proctor desiresit to reside. In embodiments, a proctor may organize information withinthe proctoring interface such as the physical location of test takers ina test environment, group test takers within the interface based atleast in part on testing status (e.g., “active,” “complete”), group testtakers within the interface based at least in part on each test taker'stest or subject matter (e.g., “History Chapter 2 Test,” “EnglishComposition Test,” etc.), group test takers within the interface basedat least in part on test takers' needs and/or special needs, group testtakers within the interface based at least in part on a level ofproctoring assistance needed, or some other organizational framework.The platform may facilitate automatic organization of the studentrepresentations, such as auto-sorting based on the number of completedquestions. Automatic sorting and automatic organization of icons, withinthe various proctor interface screens and elements may provide a proctorthe opportunity to walk throughout the testing site and glance at theproctoring interface as needed to determine tester status, respond toissues, and the like. The proctoring interface may be manipulated by theproctor throughout a test session, but may also be manipulated initiallyto ensure proper test initiation and thereafter be automatically updatedby the platform, such as by polling each student station 102 todetermine student status and other factors.

The proctor interface may include handheld and/or wireless computingdevices in addition to standard computing devices so that a proctor maymonitor test taker status while walking around the test facility. Aproctor interface may also include video projection capabilities thatmay allow certain aspects of the proctor interface to be projectedwithin the testing environment.

A proctor may use the Add Time general control 1608 to allow allstudents who have not finished to be granted additional time to take thetest. Similarly to selecting Void Session, a confirmation of the AddTime selection may be required.

A proctor may use the Pause general control 1608 to suspend testingactivity. A student taking the test may be presented with a window oralert indicating the test session is being paused. The proctor may bepresented with a screen or pop-up window showing the elapsed time thetest session is being paused and may further provide an alert such as anaudible sound or a change in window color or animation as time continuesto elapse. In an example, a proctor may select to pause a test sessionand a paused test session window may be displayed to the proctor. Thepaused test session window may change from green to red if the sessionis paused for more than 2 minutes or an audible alert may be issued tothe proctor after each minute the test is paused. After a proctor pausesa test, the proctor may choose to add time because a student'sconcentration may be disrupted by the pause.

The Finalize Session general control 1608 may be used by the proctor todisplay a finalizing session screen and/or perform functions associatedwith finalizing the session, such as sending a message to each studentindicating the session has been finalized. Finalizing may also indicateto other elements of the online test platform 100 that the answerssubmitted by the students during the test session are final andtherefore are available for scoring. The Finalize Session generalcontrol 1608 may be conditionally enabled so certain conditions may berequired to allow a proctor to finalize a test session. In an example, atest session may not be finalized if one or more students have notfinished testing, or if the test end date 1422 as shown in FIGS. 14 and15, is still in the future, or some combination of these or otherconditions may be required to enable the Finalize Session generalcontrol 1608. Alternatively, the Finalize Session may be enabledwhenever at least one student has finished a test session (as shown inFIG. 19). Selecting a Finalize Session may result in answers of studentswho have finished the test being made available for scoring.

The proctoring screen 1602 may also include a student sort control 1604that may allow the proctor to select an alternate order display ofstudent controls 1622. Student order may include alphabetical, reversealphabetical, grouped by subtest, or ordered by status. Orderingstudents by status may allow a proctor to readily see all the studentswho are Absent (for example). Ordering the students into groups based onthe subtest that the student is currently testing may be beneficial to aproctor for assessing the progress each student is making towardcompleting the test. Other student orderings may be provided such asbased on a geographic location, a competency assessed level, a testduration, and the like. Student representations, such as icons, mayrepresent the status of a student such as waiting for an exam to start,taking the exam, finished the exam, needing assistance, accommodated, aspecial need, summary of test status (questions answered, questions notanswered), time left or time taken in a test session, and the like. Theplatform may store student or test related information in associationwith the student representations (icons). Wherein the icons areinteractive, the proctor may access and act on the information stored inassociation with the icons by selecting the icons, such as by using acomputer mouse to ‘double-click’ or ‘right-click’ the icon, or byholding the mouse cursor over the representation. A proctor may access astudent representation and may store information entered by the proctorthat is related to the student in association with the icon.

A proctor may take an action associated with a test taker by accessingthe icon representing the student. Because the proctor interface may beimplemented with FLASH technology using standard web browsers, theproctor may take an action from any computer networked with the studentstation 102, even if the proctor and student are on different networksor are served by different network providers. The proctor interface doesnot require dedicated functionality proctoring software loaded onto oroperating on the proctor station. A proctor may access an interactivestudent representation icon and take an action such as start a test,stop a test, pause a test, restart a test, void a test or test section,add time, subtract time, send a text or instant message to the testtaker, receive text or instant messages from the test taker, provide thetest taker assistance, and the like.

The student representation (icon) may include more than one selectableaction area. Certain types of actions may be associated with differentaction areas. Some action areas may be for inquiries, others for proctoraction, yet others for icon movement, and the like. The proctor actionmay be initiated by selecting an action button included in the icon.

Student representations may include text, icons, images, and the like.The text may be a variety of sizes, fonts, colors, animations, artisticeffects, and the like. An icon may be a single color, a plurality ofcolors, a graphic, a combination of text and graphics and the like.Images may include a photograph of the student, a movie of the student,and the like. The display of student representations and other aspectsof the proctor interface may be automatically adapted to facilitate easyviewing of critical attributes and status of students taking the test.In an example, the size and relative position of the icons may beautomatically adjusted to display the icon for every student on thescreen at the same time. In another example, only students meetingcriteria such as needing help, taking excessively long to completequestions, nearing completion and the like may be automaticallydisplayed on the proctoring interface. There is a wide variety ofbeneficial arrangements of student representations that may beeffectively used by a proctor and all of these configurations arecontemplated by the examples and description in this disclosure.

The proctoring interface may include presentation of results of analysisof information associated with a proctored testing session. The platformmay include functionality that may allow receiving data associated withan on-line test session, performing statistical and other analysis onthe data, and presenting the result within the proctoring interface. Thetype and extent of analysis may be based at least in part on the datareceived. The analysis may be related to which subtests have beencompleted, are being taken, and the like. The analysis may relate to oneor more test questions, to the test as a whole, a portion of the test, atest taker, a test site, a proctor, time durations for questions, tests,sub tests, test result pass/fail rates, percentages, and the like. Theanalysis may be presented as text, such as a table, as a graphic such asa pie chart, graph, and the like.

The open student start panel 1614 may include one or more individualstudent controls 1622. Student controls 1622 may be presented for eachstudent associated with the test. Controls 1622 may further beassociated with a status panel such as the Start status test panel 1614.Each student control 1622 may display a status of the student whereinthe available status is associated with the particular test status panelin which the user control 1622 is displayed. The start status panel 1614may allow a student status to include Online and Absent. An Onlinestudent may be ready to start the test session. An Absent student may beunavailable to start the test session. The status of each student may beprovided by the online test platform 100 and may be based on a state ofthe student's login status or other selections made by the student. Inan example of FIG. 16, a student who has logged into the online testplatform 100 and has selected to begin the Spring Basics test shown inthe proctoring header 1604 may appear to the proctor as “Online” in theStart status panel 1614. A student, who has not logged into the onlinetest platform 100 or has not selected to begin the Spring Basis test,may appear to the proctor as “Absent”.

Selecting a student control 1622 may provide the proctor with moreinformation about the student. This may be presented in a pop-up window,or other window of the proctoring user interface. Alternatively, movingthe computer pointer (e.g. the mouse) over a student control 1622 maydisplay more information about the student. A proctor may cause astudent status to change from “start” to “testing” by selecting theactivation arrow 1624 associated with a student ready to begin testing,such as a student with an Online status displayed in the student control1622. Changing the status of a student to “testing” may allow a studentto begin taking the test.

FIG. 17 shows an example of the action of changing a student from“start” to “testing”. A proctor has selected the activation arrow 1624of student named “James Baldwin” and the control 1622 for the studentvisually reflects the selected action of moving the student from Startto Testing by changing intensity slightly and moving on the screen fromthe position on the Start panel 1614 where it was activated to theTesting panel 1618. The action is completed visually by the closedTesting panel 1618 opening slightly to accept the activated studentcontrol 1622. Each student control 1622 with an activation control 1624can be so transferred by the proctor. Selecting the Start generalcontrol 1608 may cause all of the controls 1622 of the Online studentsto be so transferred.

Each status panel (1614, 1618, 1620) may include a count of studentsassociated with the particular status panel. As seen in FIG. 17, theStart test status panel has 5 students associated with it and the number(5) appears below the panel name “START” on the left side of the panel.The sum of the students associated with each panel may be equal to thenumber of students presented in the proctoring header 1604, so that theproctor can account for each student identified in the test 1414 in FIG.14 and the expanded test 1514 in FIG. 15.

Referring back to FIG. 15, in addition to the status of each studentbeing displayed in the student controls 1622 of each test status panel,the expanded test 1514 may display a list of student status and mayinclude information such as assessment, current subtest, studentactivity duration, and student name. Selecting a student name from thestatus list in expanded test 1514 may display more information about thestudent or may change to the proctoring window with the appropriate teststatus panel displayed including the student control 1622 of theselected student. In an example, selecting a student name on the statuslist displayed in the expanded test 1514 of FIG. 15, may display aproctoring window 1602 with the testing panel 1618 opened as shown inFIG. 18.

Referring to FIG. 18, the proctoring screen 1602 is shown with the Starttest status panel 1614 closed and the testing status panel 1618 open.The Testing panel 1618 may be opened by the proctor selecting the Testpanel open/close control 1802. The testing panel 1618 may automaticallyopen when the proctor selects to close the Start status panel 1614. Thepanel open/close control 1802, when selected, may allow a closed panelto open or an open panel to close. The proctor user interface includesautomatic logic to ensure at least one test status panel is open at alltimes when the proctoring screen 1602 is displayed. The automatic logicmay follow rules that determine which panel will open when a panel isclosed. In an example of automatic panel open/close logic, closing theStart panel 1614 may open the Testing panel 1618, closing the Testingpanel 1618 may open the Finish panel 1620, and closing the Finish panel1620 may open the Testing panel 1618. As herein described, othercombinations of open and closed test status panels may be included.Logic for these other combinations may support closing all of the panelsor opening more than one of the panels.

The testing panel 1618 may include student controls 1622 that includerepresentations of the student status. The status representations mayinclude text, color, animation, or any combination of text, color, andanimation. The status representations available to be displayed may beassociated with the Testing panel 1618. The status representations mayor may not be available when the Start status panel 1614 or the Finishpanel 1620 is opened. Status displayed in a particular student control1622 may be associated with the actual status of the particular student.The status may include a subtest name if the student does not requireproctoring activity. The status may include text such as “Waiting” or“Hand Raised” to indicate the student may need proctoring activity.

A student control 1622 may display a subtest that the student iscurrently taking. When the student moves to another subtest, the subtestname displayed in the student control 1622 may change to reflect themove. In FIG. 18, student “Theodore Dreiser” is currently taking theVocabulary subtest, while student “F. Scott Fitzgerald” is taking theComprehension test. These two student controls 1622 are displayed with agreen background to indicate no proctoring activity is required. Thesetwo student controls 1622 also may include a pause control 1804.Proctoring may sometimes require pausing one or more students to provideimportant updates. Selecting the pause control 1804 on a particularstudent may pause the particular student's test session.

In embodiments, a proctor may select a test taker by clicking on thestudent control 1622 in order to open a student-specific window. Thiswindow may include some of the same information presented in the studentcontrol 1622, such as student name, status (e.g., “waiting”), and thelike, as well as additional information regarding accommodations,subtests, or some other student-related information. The fieldspertaining to accommodations and subtests may be text entry fields inwhich a proctor may list comments, notes for other proctors oradministrators, or some other test-related information. In anotherembodiment, the accommodations and subtests fields may includepre-filled information for the proctor's review. For example, in thesubtests field there may be a listing of all subtests that a test takeris scheduled to take. Each subtest may be associated with a button thata proctor may use to void or cancel a subtest, or alter the scheduledsubtest in some other manner. There may also be a “comments” text fieldfor a proctor to enter general comments pertaining to whatever theproctor wishes. The student-specific window may include additionalbuttons that the proctor may select for activities such as starting atest, adding time to the total amount of time that a test taker ispermitted to complete a test, voiding a test session, logging off, orsome other activity.

In embodiments, once the proctor clicks on the play, or start button,the test may be presented to the test taker for him to begin a testsession. As a test taker progresses through the test, the proctor maymonitor the test taker's progress using the student control 1622. Forexample, the student-specific window may display the number of questionsthat a student has answered out of the total number of test questions.As the proctor monitors each test taker's progress, he may pause anexam, add time to an exam, or assist a test taker in some other manner.While a test is paused by the proctor, the student will be unable tointeract with the test. For each action taken by the proctor (e.g.adding 5 minutes to a test taker's permitted time), an audit trail iscreated in which the proctor's action(s) are recorded for later review.This audit trail may provide a text box for a proctor to provideadditional information about why a particular action was taken (e.g.,“student given extra time due to having to take medication duringexam”). In another example, a proctor may add a comment to a studentaction, such as “raising hang,” so that it may be better understoodduring a future review of the testing period.

In embodiments, students may be sorted by the proctor based at least inpart on the type of exam that each student is taking. For example, thetesting period may be devoted to a reading comprehension test. However,within the class of test takers, there may be 4 levels of readingaptitude, each associated with a different type of reading comprehensionexam. The proctor may arrange the student control 1622 for each group oftest takers so that all students taking the same type of exam arephysically located together within the proctoring interface.

Further in FIG. 18, student “Frederick Douglas” has raised his hand,indicating Frederick is requesting assistance from the proctor.Frederick's student control 1622 is displayed in red to indicate to theproctor that the student may have stopped testing or cannot proceedproperly without assistance. Alternatively, Frederick may be proceedingwith the test but cannot complete the test without proctor assistance.However, Frederick may be able to proceed and complete the test withoutproctor assistance, but may have an important question for the proctor.The proctor may provide assistance to the student in a variety of ways.The proctor may support Frederick by selecting Frederick's control 1622.Selecting Frederick's control 1622 may provide an indication toFrederick that the proctor is available to provide assistance.Assistance may include opening a communication window, such as a chatwindow, or allowing Frederick to speak with the proctor through a VoIPtype connection. The communication window and/or the VoIP connection maybe integral to the online test platform 100 or may be provided by athird party such as Yahoo! Messenger. In an embodiment, thecommunication window may be blocked if the student may be using a securebrowser. The online test platform 100 may facilitate a proctor viewing astudent's computer screen to facilitate providing support to thestudent. The online test platform 100 may further facilitate a proctortaking control of a student's computer to resolve a problem remotely.

Referring again to FIG. 18, student “Harriett Beecher Stowe” may bewaiting for some information, event, or authorization from the proctoror the online test platform 100. Harriett's student control 1622 isdisplayed with a yellow background, perhaps to indicate Harriett needsassistance but is not being prevented from proceeding with the test. Thecolor of the background of the student control 1622 may be associatedwith the severity of the status so that the proctor can quickly seewhich student or students require assistance most severely.

As a student completes all aspects of the test session, or otherwiseasserts that the student is finished with the test session, the studentcontrol 1622 will automatically move from the Testing status panel 1618to the Finish status panel 1620. Visually, this may be similar toactivating a student described in FIG. 17.

Referring to FIG. 19, a depiction of the proctor screen 1602, the Finishpanel 1620 is displayed open. Closing the Testing panel 1618 mayautomatically open the Finish panel 1620. Alternatively, the proctor mayopen the Finish panel 1620 which may automatically close the Testingpanel 1618. The Finish test status panel 1620 may include studentcontrols 1622. The student controls 1622 associated with, and displayedin the Finish status panel 1620 may represent students who havecompleted all testing associated with the current test session. Thestudent controls 1622 shown in FIG. 19 may indicate that the students“Black Elk” and “William Faulkner” have completed the Spring Basics testsession. The color or other attribute of the student controls 1622 inthe Finish status panel 1620 may be based on an aspect of the testsession. While the controls for Elk and Faulkner are shown in green andmay indicate a normal or expected completion of the test session, thecontrols 1622 may indicate an abnormal completion of the test session.In an example, a student who has completed the test session, but whoanswered a relatively small number of questions, and thereby leavingmany answers blank, may be indicated by a different color, such as redor yellow. Alternatively, a student who asked for support from theproctor more than a maximum threshold of support requests may bedisplayed in a different color, such as blue.

Each student control 1622 in the Finish test status panel 1620 mayinclude a proctor acceptance selection 1902. Although a student may havecompleted a test session, the proctor may be required to accept thestudent completion to validate the student responses. In this way, theproctor may review information about the student, the current testsession, any automated assessment by the online test platform 100 aboutthe student's activity during the test session, and the like, beforeaccepting the student answers and finalizing them for scoring.

The elements depicted in flow charts and block diagrams throughout thefigures imply logical boundaries between the elements. However,according to software or hardware engineering practices, the depictedelements and the functions thereof may be implemented as parts of amonolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, or asmodules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, orany combination of these, and all such implementations are within thescope of the present disclosure. Thus, while the foregoing drawings anddescription set forth functional aspects of the disclosed systems, noparticular arrangement of software for implementing these functionalaspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitlystated or otherwise clear from the context.

Similarly, it will be appreciated that the various steps identified anddescribed above may be varied, and that the order of steps may beadapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed herein.All such variations and modifications are intended to fall within thescope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and/or description ofan order for various steps should not be understood to require aparticular order of execution for those steps, unless required by aparticular application, or explicitly stated or otherwise clear from thecontext.

The methods or processes described above, and steps thereof, may berealized in hardware, software, or any combination of these suitable fora particular application. The hardware may include a general-purposecomputer and/or dedicated computing device. The processes may berealized in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embeddedmicrocontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or otherprogrammable device, along with internal and/or external memory. Theprocesses may also, or instead, be embodied in an application specificintegrated circuit, a programmable gate array, programmable array logic,or any other device or combination of devices that may be configured toprocess electronic signals. It will further be appreciated that one ormore of the processes may be realized as computer executable codecreated using a structured programming language such as C, an objectoriented programming language such as C++, or any other high-level orlow-level programming language (including assembly languages, hardwaredescription languages, and database programming languages andtechnologies) that may be stored, compiled or interpreted to run on oneof the above devices, as well as heterogeneous combinations ofprocessors, processor architectures, or combinations of differenthardware and software.

Thus, in one aspect, each method described above and combinationsthereof may be embodied in computer executable code that, when executingon one or more computing devices, performs the steps thereof. In anotheraspect, the methods may be embodied in systems that perform the stepsthereof, and may be distributed across devices in a number of ways, orall of the functionality may be integrated into a dedicated, standalonedevice or other hardware. In another aspect, means for performing thesteps associated with the processes described above may include any ofthe hardware and/or software described above. All such permutations andcombinations are intended to fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

While the invention has been disclosed in connection with the preferredembodiments shown and described in detail, various modifications andimprovements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled inthe art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the present invention isnot to be limited by the foregoing examples, but is to be understood inthe broadest sense allowable by law.

All documents referenced herein are hereby incorporated by reference.

1. A method of polling, comprising: logging a test taker into an onlinetesting platform; using a web browser in association with a computingfacility; and prior to beginning an online test with the test taker,polling the web browser to obtain data relating to the computingfacility.